The present invention generally relates to a portable electronic device. More specifically, the present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for data entry from a removable portable device cover which may at least partially cover, encapsulate, and/or surround a separate portable electronic device.
Numerous portable electronic devices such as cellular phones, portable multimedia players, and navigation systems increasingly utilize touch-screen virtual keyboards for text and other data entry. For example, some popular “smart-phone” devices predominantly reply on relatively large touch-screen surfaces which are configured to show virtual keyboards or virtual keypads for data entry. These smart-phone devices sometimes entirely omit physical keyboards or physical keypads. Similarly, many portable GPS navigation systems and multimedia (e.g. music, video, etc.) players also do not have physical keyboards or physical keypads and rely on touch-screen-based virtual keyboards or virtual keypads instead.
Although the use of virtual keyboards or virtual keypads in these portable electronic devices may exhibit some advantages, such as lower cost of device production and clean-look design factor, some users still strongly prefer using a physical keyboard or a physical keypad which are typically made of plastic and/or rubber materials. It may not be economically advantageous for portable electronic device manufacturers to provide a physical keyboard or a physical keypad as part of a standard factory-spec feature for portable electronic devices that are designed to use a touch-screen virtual keyboard or a virtual keypad in the first place, because the integration costs and the margin pressures may increase significantly merely to provide a redundant method of data entry. Furthermore, even in portable electronic devices which integrate physical keyboards on their surfaces, there may be some dimensional limitations to make keyboards large enough to provide sufficient typing convenience to users.
Therefore, a physical keyboard or a physical keypad can become a popular aftermarket and/or optional accessory item to a portable electronic device, especially among users who prefer physical keyboards or physical keypads over touch-screen virtual counterparts. In addition, even in a portable device which incorporates a physical keyboard or a physical keypad on one of its surfaces, a more comfortable and ergonomic keyboard which can be conveniently carried with the portable device may be highly desirable. Therefore, a novel apparatus and a method for data entry from an accessory item to a portable electronic device may be highly beneficial to users.